Bumpy flight ahead as drones hit legal fog

Small, unmanned aircraft littering the South African skies are causing a headache for the South African Civil Aviation Authority - but the dispute over their use is handicapping the film, agriculture and property industries.

The aviation authority has stopped issuing permits for the use of drones in South African airspace while it develops regulations, which are expected to be implemented from next March.

But the use of drones, contrary to what many believe, has not been banned.

The authority set the record straight earlier this month, saying it had never banned the use of unmanned aircraft systems.

Instead, the aviation authority had threatened to clamp down on the illegal flying of the unmanned aircraft in civilian airspace over public safety concern and the increasing disregard of current aviation rules.

Kabelo Ledwaba, spokesman for the authority, condemned online media reports that have added to the confusion by suggesting that it was legal after all to fly drones in South African airspace.

"The [authority] will never put commercial interests ahead of aviation safety ... Arm-twisting tactics that involve the spreading of inaccurate statements are futile as a regulatory framework that is suitable for all airspace users will not be achieved in this manner."

Ledwaba said the authority was compiling an interim guidance document to provide restricted approval on a case-by-case basis "until maturity is attained" by the industry and the authority.

The industry is not waiting for the a uthority to complete its drafting of regulations, and will submit a strategy document by the end of the month to the authority highlighting the economic cost and effect on jobs that a ban could have.

Representatives of industries, including the film and agricultural sectors, also intend to approach the National Assembly portfolio committee on transport to put forward a case for drone users.

Denis Lillie, CEO of the Cape Film Commission, said the cost of lost opportunity with uncertainty and confusion created by previous authority statements was put at between R1-billion and R2-billion.

In South Africa, drones have been used extensively over the past five years, according to Lillie. They have been used for recreation and in commercial applications that include conducting maintenance of oil rigs, aerial filming and photography for the agricultural-property sector, monitoring of game and surveillance of cattle in townships.

Lillie said he was aware of companies that had pitched for film work internationally but had to abandon the use of drones due to the uncertainty.

The Times, the Sunday Times's sister paper, reported this month that Eye in the Sky, an international military thriller to be shot in South Africa later this year, would now have to resort to special effects after the authority did not permit it to use drones.

The film is being directed by South African director Gavin Hood, whose film Tsotsiwon an Academy Award in 2006. Eye in the Sky stars Helen Mirren and Colin Firth.

The aviation authority is collaborating with international civil aviation bodies to develop the Unmanned Aircraft Systems regulations and technical standards.

Internationally, concern over the use of unmanned drones is rising.

Last month, US media reported that an airliner narrowly escaped colliding with a drone over Florida.

The integration of drones into civil airspace is expected to take years to complete, according to the authority.

Lillie said: "The industry feels they have been forced into a situation unwittingly."

He claimed the authority had spurned invitations to meet industry players.

Ledwaba said the authority had not snubbed the industry meeting, but did not attend as it was unable to send a specialist to the meeting.

Ben Kieser, chairman of the South African UAV Association for small aircraft, said: "We are much in favour of the industry being regulated.

Roaring trade for savvy suppliers in growing market

It can take the form of an aircraft, but one not large enough to transport passengers, or it can be built to look like a scary space-age machine supported by multiple robotic-like legs.

Drones, a popular name for what also goes by the industry name of multi-rotors, are more than a toy and are finding a purpose in many facets of life.

Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, is lobbying US authorities to permit it to use drones to fly small parcels to city customers within a few minutes of their purchase.

In April, Coke sent care packages via drones to construction workers building high-rise towers in Singapore, Advertising Age reported.

In South Africa, the commercial sale of drones appears to continue unabated while industry leaders settle their differences with the SA Civil Aviation Authority.

There is much appetite for the tiny flying machines that sell for R6000 to more than R100000, according to Piero Tizzone, who manages Coptershop, a specialist drones retailer in Pretoria that supplies the equipment to the property, game reserves and the farming sectors to track cattle.

"People are using it in falconry to train their birds," Tizzone said, explaining that while ordinarily kites are used to train the birds, drones have taken over as a preferred method. The birds are placed on the flying machine by the trainer who manipulates the flying route via remote control from the ground.

The machines, which sound like "a lot of bees", could weigh anything from 800g to about 36kg. Middle to top of the range models could carry cameras and global positioning systems, he said.

"It's growing at an ecstatic rate."

The company could easily achieve sales of R7-million a year, he said.

Duran de Villiers, owner of SteadiDrone, exports 90%of the drones he builds from Knysna and is unaffected by the regulations locally.

"It's not great for local business sure, but we do agree that regulations are required, especially with people doing stupid things with this new technology, which makes it hard for companies offering safe valuable services."